


Another Year Another Argument

by Batchick20



Series: Jack and Danny Oneshots [5]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Christmas fic, Danny hates Christmas, Jack tried, Sad Danny, Santa Debate, christmas argument, jack and maddie arguing, jack finally realizes it, jack tried to help, no reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:28:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28168497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batchick20/pseuds/Batchick20
Summary: It is another Christmas and the Santa debate lives on. Jack and Maddie don't know that Danny hates Christmas or that they are the cause. During a break from the yelling Jack looks around for Danny at their house. Finding him outside, Jack joins him only to notice something wrong.
Series: Jack and Danny Oneshots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713553
Comments: 3
Kudos: 82





	Another Year Another Argument

Jack hated arguing with Maddie. He did. To him, it always seemed as though he loved her less for daring to go against her. In their day to day life together he preferred to take the path of least resistance. She was usually right anyway, so why waste time screaming at each other when they could be working in the lab? However, there was one time a year where he knew he had to put his foot down. Santa  _ was _ real. He wasn’t sure how Maddie could get something  _ so _ wrong. If Jack knew anything it was that he loved his family, ghosts were evil, and Santa was real. 

If he was being honest, it wasn’t  _ her  _ fault. Her mind just had a hard time believing in things it couldn’t understand. It was a damn shame. Because of that, she was being robbed of the true wonder of Christmas. Santa was a wonder. He aspired to be more like the jolly red man. His jolly attitude was something young Jack admired and adult Jack tried his hardest. He had also tried to make everyone happy, but more often than not he messed something up. Instead, he chose to protect them from the vile ghosts plaguing their town. He and Santa were two halves of the same coin. Santa kept everyone happy and jolly and Jack kept them safe. 

Christmas eve was always when things got the most heated. It seemed like he and Maddie were yelling at each other from sun-up. Looking at the clock during a brief break revealed that it was already past nine at night. Where had the day gone? Maddie was angrily pacing the lab so Jack decided to put a fake smile on his face and find his kids. 

Jazz was in her room reading. She didn’t hear him knock because of the earplugs so she was startled by him “suddenly” popping up next to her. He apologized and they laughed it off. A brief conversation later and Jack was off to look for Danny. Not finding him in the house Jack opened the front door to see if his son had stepped outside for some air. Sure enough, there he was.

Danny was sitting on the bottom step leading to their front door. At first, Jack thought he was just getting some fresh winter air. It wasn’t until he stared at Danny’s posture for a bit that he realized he was sulking. Something was wrong. 

“Dann-O? You okay?” Jack asked shutting the door behind him.

“Fine.” He didn’t sound fine.

“What’s the matter? It’s Christmas Eve! Tomorrow will be the jolliest day of the year.”

“Nothing is wrong. Isn’t it time for you and Mom to start arguing again?”

Ouch. Well, Jack wasn’t really sure what to say to that.

“Er… well… you know how your mother is. She just doesn’t understand that Santa is real. If she would just  _ listen _ to me--”

“Why does it matter if Santa is real or not?”

“Of course it matters! He is one of my heroes! For her to not appreciate everything that he does is a crime.”

“Whatever.”

“Come on, Danny. Tell me what’s wrong. You’ll feel better if you do.”

“I’m fine, really. Just a little tired. I think I’ve been out here too long. I’m going to go to bed early.”

Danny got up and turned towards Jack. His head was tipped low but with the wind Jack could see that something was  _ really _ wrong.

“Why were you crying?”

“The wind blowing in my eyes always makes them water, you know this.”

Looking up at him, his son smiled his usual smile to try and convince Jack that he was alright. It would have worked if not for the fact that Jack  _ knew  _ Danny wasn’t okay. Sure, wind could sometimes make the teen’s eyes water. That was it. They  _ watered _ . That would not explain the redness and puffiness under his blue eyes. The boy had been crying. The fact that his son could so perfectly fake a smile was concerning.  _ How long has he not been okay? _

“Danny, you know you can tell me anything, right? Whatever is upsetting you, I can try to help.”

He placed a hand on his son’s small shoulder. It was astonishing how much smaller Danny was compared to Jack. His hand alone was twice the size of Danny’s shoulder. 

“Dad--”

“I mean it, you know. Anything.”

“I just want it to be the twenty-sixth so everything can go back to normal.”

“What? But this is the jolliest time of the year!” Jack couldn’t understand.

The empty look his son gave him was chilling. 

“Maybe I’m just not a jolly person.”

Danny gently removed Jack’s hand from his shoulder and walked inside the house. After a moment Jack followed and almost as soon as he entered the house Maddie was on him. He  _ really _ didn’t want to get into it with her again. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Danny shake his head and go upstairs.

_ Oh _ .

“Maddie--” 

“Reindeer cannot fly. Even if they were some  _ rare flying species _ , the sleigh, the weight of the toys, and the weight of Santa would be too much for the reindeer to keep in the sky! If, and I do mean  _ if _ an animal with no wings could achieve true flight--”

“Maddie--”

“It would be all that the animal could do to keep itself in the sky never mind a fat man and his gift sack! Furthermore, how do you explain him having a present for every child in his sleigh if there are nearly two billion children on Earth? You mean to tell me--”

“ _Maddie_ _enough_!”

But she didn’t stop. She kept going. Any other time her persistence was something he loved about her. She was unfamiliar with the meaning of “stop” and usually this proved to be a good thing.

He wanted to tell her that their arguing was ruining the holidays for Danny. How long had the boy been suffering in silence? Thinking back, Danny was always like this around this time of year. Had his son ever experienced a truly  _ merry _ Christmas?

Worst of all, the more Maddie kept ranting the more his anger returned. Soon he was back into the argument. It was late by the time they stopped to get some sleep. Jack checked in on Danny while Maddie was still downstairs. Whether or not the teen was actually asleep, Jack couldn’t tell. Regret filled him and he wished he wasn’t at stubborn as his wife. 

“Sorry, Danny. Maybe next year.”


End file.
